Archive By Section - Local News

The Great Bend USD 428 Board of Education approved two major purchases Thursday for its One-To-One technology initiative. These purchases will allow the district to issue a Chromebook mobile laptop computer to every student in grades 2-12 this fall.

Preliminary hearings for three men charged with first-degree murder and other felonies concluded Thursday morning in Barton County District Court, but Magistrate Judge Don Alvord won't make a ruling until later this month.

A petition was filed with the Barton County Attorney's Office Thursday afternoon seeking the recall of all seven Unified School District 428 Board members. It asserts there was misconduct on the Board's part in its response to the alleged sexual assault that occurred on a district bus as it returned from a boys swim meet in Manhattan Feb. 6.

Barton County Road and Bridge Director Dale Phillips joked with county commissioners Monday morning about the mild winter. He had predicted 100 inches of snow, a prediction that was fortunately off target.

Congressman Tim Huelskamp announced today that his offices in Washington D.C. and Kansas are accepting applications for internships in the summer and fall semesters. Kansas offices with internship positions include Dodge City, Hutchinson and Salina.

Sterling Mills said he shot Aron Villegas in self defense the night Villegas and others broke into his Great Bend home at 1801 Eighth St. and beat him up. But when Mills called police about the burglary he didn't mention shooting anyone.

Each week we'll take a step back into the history of Great Bend through the eyes of reporters past. We'll reacquaint you with what went into creating the Great Bend of today, and do our best to update you on what "the rest of the story" turned out to be.

The Barton County Sheriff's Office found evidence for criminal charges against a suspect in the alleged sexual assault that happened Feb. 3 on a Great Bend USD 428 school bus that was heading back to Great Bend from a swim meet in Salina.